Online Shopping

Protecting yourself while online is importan, and it’s relatively easy to do, according to Daniel Sieberg with Google. Sieberg said the most common mistake people make is using the same password for all your accounts.

Many shoppers still look forward to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but sales promotions are starting earlier and lasting longer. That means fewer shoppers were in stores or buying online the weekend after Thanksgiving compared to last year, and analysts expect that to continue on Monday.

Software engineers wearing jeans and flip flops test the latest smartphone apps. Walls and windows double as whiteboards where ideas are jotted down. And a mini basketball net is in the center of it all. At first glance, this workplace resembles any Silicon Valley startup.

If many of your co-workers seemed a little less productive today you might chalk it up to online shopping. Monday is affectionately known as Cyber Monday – when retailers put deals online that are simply too good to pass up.

This Cyber Monday, shoppers are expected to spend a spend $1.5 billion, which is hundreds of millions more than last year, according to Internet analytics firm comScore. Just like Black Friday, Cyber Monday is starting earlier than ever, with many retailers offering Cyber Weekend deals.

Bargain shoppers aren’t waiting until Cyber Monday to do their holiday shopping. At the stroke of midnight Friday shoppers began their buying marathon. But not everyone rushed into stores — instead, they jumped online.